Veronica

Veronica sits in her favorite chair
She sits very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get right
And if they don't then nobody else will

Well she used to have a carefree mind of her own
And a devilish look in her eye
Saying "You can call me anything you like
But my name is Veronica."

How do you explain Elvis Costello to someone who's never heard of him?

There's a girl at my job called Veronica, and one day I finally told her, "You know, every time I work with you, I end up with that Elvis Costello song stuck in my head - Veronica."

Her response? A blank stare - but another girl who happened to be in earshot was more to the point. "Who the #%*!! is Elvis Costello??"

Ah, well...
(Kids these days!)

Graduation

So I'm working a Saturday shift, which is somewhat unusual for me.

I was okay with it...then I found out that this is Tech's Graduation weekend -
which, if you work at a restaurant, translates to "insanely, unimaginably busy!"
(No breaks, no early outs - whatever it is, don't even ask - capisce?)

It occurred to me recently that I've been terrorized by Texas Tech's Graduation for most of my life. When I was a kid, my mom worked at Tech; I didn't know then what 'registration' and 'graduation' were - I just knew that those were the times when Mom got home from work really late, and was unusually cranky.

When my sister graduated from Tech, I actually had to sit through the ceremony. Hours of sitting and waiting for one name to be called, one familiar face to walk by for an ever-so-brief photo op. Then more sitting and waiting.

Now, as a waitress, graduation means big crowds - lots of money to be made, if you can deal with the chaos.